McVeigh v. Cohen was a 1998 lawsuit in U.S. federal court in which a member of the U.S. Armed Forces challenged the military's application of its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy, which established guidelines for service by gays and lesbians in the U.S. military. The U.S. Navy sought to discharge Timothy R. McVeigh for declaring his homosexuality, which he had allegedly done via anonymous Internet posts. McVeigh's suit denied he had made such a declaration and charged the Navy with failure to adhere to its own DADT policy and, in the course of investigating him, with violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by collecting his private online communications. McVeigh won a preliminary injunction against his discharge and the Navy, without acknowledging culpability, allowed him to retire with an honorable discharge. The New York Times called it "a victory for gay rights, with implications for the millions of people who use computer on-line services". Background Timothy R. McVeigh (no relation to convicted domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh) entered the Navy at the age of 18 around 1980 and earned four Good Conduct Medals and the Navy Commendation Medal. His performance review in 1997 described him as "an outstanding role model" and the "embodiment of Navy core values". By that time he had reached the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. In September 1997, while based in Honolulu and serving on the nuclear submarine USS Chicago (SSN-721), McVeigh sent email messages from his America Online (AOL) account that used the screen name "boysrch" and the signature "Tim" when communicating with Helen Hajny, a civilian working as a volunteer Ombudsman. The AOL user directory identified the marital status of the owner of that AOL account as "gay". Naval authorities suspected that the "boysrch" handle on AOL was being used by McVeigh and constituted an announcement of his homosexuality. A Navy paralegal, misrepresenting himself, obtained confirmation from AOL by telephone that the account belonged to McVeigh. The Navy initiated an administrative discharge on the basis of his "homosexual conduct, as evidenced by your statement that you are homosexual." A Navy disciplinary board held a hearing at which McVeigh acknowledged he had authored the email messages using the "boysrch" account and presented evidence of prior relationships with women. They concluded that by a preponderance of the evidence McVeigh had engaged in "homosexual conduct". With his discharge scheduled for January 16, 1998, McVeigh, represented by Proskauer